2021 UTME: See Challenges Candidates Encounter During Exams
De Erudite Communications
June 19, 2021
Several candidates who sat for the 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) today, Saturday, 19th of June, 2021 have alleged facing severe challenges in the cause of the exams.
At Maraba and some parts of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), some candidates have complained of some slight technical issues at their Computer Based Centre, while some described the exercise, as peaceful and hitch-free.
They made the remarks, while speaking with a correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), who monitored the exercise in FCT and Mararaba on Saturday.
Meanwhile, De Erudite Media Team gathered that some of the candidates reached out to affirmed that they were made to sit for the examination after having been thoroughly checked by JAMB officials and security agents.
However, Guardian further reports, at the Royal Midland CBT centre in Maraba, a candidate, Ayuba Perez, said the centre experience power outage which delayed the examination.
The cases were similar in various centres in Enugu and other states across the country.
“ The examination was calm as the environment was conducive. The way the examination was arranged coupled with the invigilating was ok.
“But there was a slight computer problem when the power was shut down and they have to start the generating set to put on the power. So this delayed the progress of the examination,” he said.
Anita Haruna, also at the Royal Midland CBT centre said the examination went smoothly but only experienced delay when the power was shut down.
Haruna said she finished her examination successfully but only started late while praying that she comes out high flying.
On the other hand, NAN reports that two sessions were conducted at the Royal Midland CBT centre in Maraba with 245 candidates for each sessions.
However, Mrs Queen Obepa, Supervisor for Royal Midland CBT centre lamented that the examination did not commence as scheduled but every technical hitches were however fixed.
Obepa said that not all the candidates were able to start at the same time because of the technical hitches saying that 27 candidates were delayed in writing as they did not start on time.
“ We did not start on time as the generator had issues and we have resolved it. We were here yesterday and everything worked well but on getting here today, we experienced this problem.
“The generator shut down and it took time to bring it back so we wasted like one hour to fix it.
“ This centre has 245 candidates for the morning session and 245 for the afternoon session.
“ We couldn’t capture one person so he was asked to go back and contact JAMB and we also have somebody that came in late and she was not able to write the examinations,” she said.At the Global Distance Learning Centre in FCT, candidates commended JAMB for the quick response in attending to issues during the examination.
However, a candidate at the centre, Aisha Mouhktar told NAN that the examination went smoothly without any problems.
Mouhktar said that the examination started as expected and candidates were thoroughly checked in for the examinations saying that there were no technical problems.
“We were given instructions on how to start. The examination was good as expected as there were no technical issues.
“At this centre only a candidate that couldn’t submit his questions and prompt action was immediately taken to help him out,” she said.
Speaking with newsmen, Mr Abdulrahman Balogun, JAMB High Power Opinion Leaders said some centres he monitored had technical issues while some were free from technical issues.
Balogun who is also the Special Assistant Media to Mrs Abike Dabiri, the Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commissions (NIDCOM) commended the progress of the examination.
“Some are having technical issues like the Junior Secondary School in Jikwoyi . For almost one and half hour, the system packed up so they have to quickly bring in some of their technical staff to ensure on it.
“ As at the time I left the place at 9:18 a.m., they are still working on it which means they have not started as they said they want them to start at the same time.
“ If not they would have allowed those that their systems are working to start but coming to Global Distance Learning the story is different. The systems are working, arrangements were so perfect the facilities were in good shape and it is a good effort for JAMB,” he said.
He commended the board for the initiative of mock examinations as it was able fix any problems that may likely occur as the board had anticipated some of these problems and fixed them so they have backup for it.